According to this it's been reinstated (effective today) for Executive Platinum and Platinum:

https://www.aa.com/i18n/AAdvantage/p...atus/bonus.jsp

I was thinking the same thing until I realized that it's an additional source of revenue for BA and they elected to give AA a pass. Think of it like the checked bag fee, upgrade fee.

What BA seem to have done is lower the price of revenue tickets so that the combination of ticket + surcharge is the same as the equivalent AA (and others) revenue ticket prices.

BA however wins because it loads this surcharge onto redemptions, and things like 2-4-1 promo tickets so a "free" ticket still earns them some revenue.

The reason for this is that BAEC Silver and Gold flying on BA are entitled to lounge access on arrival. The implication of the tatl JV is that BAEC members may take AA flights and therefore BA wants to ensure that they still have access to an arrivals lounge and will therefore pay AA for that access.

If AA wants to pay for elite AAdvantage members to have access to BA arrivals lounge at T5, I do not doubt that BA would be happy to negotiate that.

However, my understanding is that it is not AA policy to provide arrivals lounge access for elite members flying in non-premium classes. Therefore, it would be surprising if AA were to pay BA to provide a service that AA does not provide itself to its own members in its own arrival lounge at LHR.

Have to say the BA fuel surcharges for awards is a major issue but can anyone confirm you can avoid these by using a Oneword Award instead of an all-partner award?

Not sure how many extra miles this is but perhaps an option for anyone wanting to go US-LHR-India/Middle East etc.....

Still think elite milage bonus on BA is a definite plus.

My concern is not about AAdvantage members on BA flights but AAdvantage members on AA flights.

Upon arrival at LHR T3 we are now going to be in a position where BAEC members on the flight, not in J or F cabin can use the AA arrivals lounge where AAdvantage members of the same status level cannot.

These changes are rather forcibly ramming home the point that AAdvantage members are 2nd class citizens in this new realigned world even when it comes to using facilities run for our own airline.

But they are already in the sense that BA Elites can use BA lounges no matter the class of travel, whereas AA Elites have to pay for Admirals Club access on domestic services.

Until AA sees lounges as an integral part of a product instead of a source of direct, visible revenue then AA elites will be, as you put it, "2nd class citizens".

The BA fuel charge chart reads It is $25 for a sector within "Europe and UK Domestic".

Even if you fly AA TATL, but tack on a BA-served short-hop, that's going to add $50 for a non-AA destination RT Award ticket in Europe. Does anyone know if this fee will also trigger additional taxes?

Also, does anyone know if a sector is the same as a flight segment or includes all connecting flights? (i.e., if you fly into BRU, then hop through LHR to OSL, would you pay $50 each way ($25 BRU-LHR + $25 LHR-OSL) OR would you pay $25 total for BRU-LHR-OSL?).

I'm assuming these "fuel charges" will also apply to BA flights on OneWorld Awards. If so, this will drastically increase the net cost of a OW Award containing multiple BA flights.

:td::td::td: Very dissappointing changes from AA that the TATL BA miles earning doesn't begin to compensate for.

True, but I am talking about international services here where AA already match the lounge access granted to BAEC members.

Probably that's the underlying reason: to make use of IB/MAD more over BA/LHR. Plus, there are other ways of getting to Europe and the Middle East without BA/LHR; one can also use AY/HEL from JFK and even RJ/AMM from ORD, DTW, and YUL; both of which are also included in the TATL agreement.

There's also the proposed increase in AA's flights to/from Europe as well, and still the mystery of what to do with MA/BUD which has huge potential that is being left untapped.

All in all I think the new rules are fair. There's still no YQ charge on redeeming awards on AA and any other partners, plus we now get to earn better mileage (and for PLT and EXP 100% bonus miles ^ ) for flying TATL on BA and IB.

Is AA now adding the fuel charge to it's flights as well as BA's?

I didn't see that in the announcement but am trying to put together an award trip next summer RDU-DFW-LHR out in F and back LHR-MIA-RDU also in F. Taxes and fees are coming up at $250 per passenger. I thought the max on AA was $182.50? Where does this come from??

Or not paying for fuel surcharges when redeeming AA miles on BA that's not from the US as it used to be up until now? i.e.: YVR-LHR or NRT-LHR on BA using AA miles :confused:

I think you're looking at this through the wrong eyes. This is not a merger and true equality for two FF schemes - it's a few tweaks so that they can get the two schemes to run in reasonable harmony, without massive spillover of, for example, AA passengers upgrading on BA services and vice versa. There are PLENTY of areas of inequality left, for example BAEC members don't get SWU's for use on their home carrier. I'm sure many BA Elites would sacrifice arrivals lounge acces (the AA one in LHR isn't very good anyway!) for an equivalent to SWU's.

There may be more harmonization in the future but it seems to me that what's been announced today doesn't actually change the scenery a great deal for most passengers.

I was thinking of doing a Mileage Run for exp at the end of the year. But given that evips don't work for BA, and any BA redemption involves FS, I think the new world sucks big time. Since most of my exotic redemptions involve BA, this makes me rethink my AA commitment.

I'm in Luxor Egypt right now, and the cost of my "free" tickets would go up tremendously ($314 each, on top of the current taxes that are high due to a stopover in LHR).

On the other hand, BA just increased their earn rate on deep discount from 25% to 100%. Whose getting the short end of the stick here.

I believe fuel surcharge is higher than the $70xx difference?